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Getting to a game was the main reason for making the trip to Britain, according to 40 per cent of foreign football fans.

Some may have travelled to the 2011 Champions League Final at Wembley Stadium but their favourite venues to watch a match remained unchanged from 2010.

Old Trafford was the top choice, followed by Anfield, then the Emirates Stadium and Stamford Bridge.

White Hart Lane, Wembley, Goodison Park, the Etihad Stadium, Upton Park and Villa Park were the other stadia in the top 10 in order of popularity.

Global fan base: Old Trafford football stadium in Manchester remained the favourite venue to watch a match

Following the research by the Office for National Statistics International Passenger Survey, tourist bosses have now identified football as a 'highly effective tool' in enticing visitors to Britain at some of the quieter times of the year, VisitBritain said.

The greatest number of visitors who attend a football match travel in the quieter tourist periods between January and March.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: 'The Premier League is now the most watched and supported football league in the world and there's a huge amount of effort being made to connect with our international fans.

'Little though beats the thrill of a Premier League match day and it's very encouraging to hear that football can play an important role in increasing the numbers of international visitors to this country.'

Sport in general is a big boon for the tourist sector as some of the nation's top venues - from Lord's cricket ground to Old Trafford, Wimbledon for tennis, Ascot for horseracing, the Millennium Stadium and St Andrews golf course - stretch across Britain.

Tee time: Golf was most likely to draw in spectators from America

Some 174,000 of the foreign tourists who watched a football match in the UK in 2011 were from Ireland, followed by 80,000 from Norway, 61,000 from the United States, 54,000 from Spain and 48,000 from Germany.

Visitors from Mexico, Sweden and Iceland also featured highly in the category of 'highest chance of going to a game'.

Golf was most likely to draw in spectators from the US while rugby was popular with the Irish and French.

Cricket attracted most of its overseas spectators from Australia but in 'a somewhat peculiar result' the next largest group were residents of France, VisitBritain said. A possible explanation is that these may be expats.

Horseracing proved popular with visitors from Asia Pacific and the Middle East but also had global appeal.

Sporting success: Tourism bosses say Britain's tourist sector is in a period of 'unrivalled opportunities' triggered by sports events such the Olympic Games

VisitBritain chief executive Sandie Dawe said: 'Our partnership with the Premier League not only highlights the value of sports tourism to the UK economy, but it also helps drive inbound visits by inspiring travel to the UK at traditionally quieter times of the year.'

Travel and tourism bosses believe that Britain's tourist sector is now in a period of 'unrivalled opportunities' triggered by hosting a range of top-flight sports events and this year's successful Olympic Games in London.

A range of competitions such as beach volleyball on Horse Guards Parade, sailing at Weymouth and rowing at Windsor through to showpiece athletics events in the Olympic Stadium helped to showcase lots of potential tourist destinations.

The VisitBritain Foresight study on sporting travel concludes: 'This is just the start of an extraordinary period for Britain hosting the world's elite sportsmen and sportswomen, and of course those keen to come and support their efforts.

'The Rugby League World Cup in 2013, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup in 2014, the IRB Rugby World Cup in 2015, the World Athletics Championship in 2017 and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 are all set to ensure that while the Olympic movement will be turning its attention to Brazil for the next summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, Britain will remain centre stage when it comes to sport.'